Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Are you interested in visiting Toronto sometime in the near future?  Well, whether you’re planning to drive across the border from the US, hop into Pearson International Airport from another continent or simply take a bus or train ride into the city from elsewhere in Canada, the upcoming weekend of May 24th and 25th should be your top priority when doing the scheduling.  The reason for this is that a great event will be taking place during this time. 

Known as Doors Open Toronto, this event will showcase some of the best of the city as 150 buildings will open their doors to the public over the weekend.  These include places that show off Toronto’s distinct multicultural heritage and religious diversity as well as the historical heritage that the city has come to be proud of over the years of its existence.  Some of these buildings would not normally be open to tourists because of their private nature, but during Doors Open Toronto you can tour them to your heart’s content.

Event Details

Doors Open Toronto 2008 is the 9th incarnation of this event and it is going to be the biggest one yet.  Admission to all of the buildings participating under Doors Open Toronto is completely free during the May 24-25 weekend.  To get an idea of how remarkable that is, every single building on the list is either a building that would not normally be open to the public during those hours or alternatively would charge an entrance fee for you to enter.  However, during the weekend that Doors Open Toronto is going on, admission is free and accessibility is universal.

More information about the event can be found by visiting the Doors Open Toronto Website, by e-mailing doorsopen@toronto.ca or by phoning 416-338-0628.

Buildings on Display

A full list of buildings on display is readily available from the Toronto City Website, but in looking over it I’ve come up with some highlights that I think warrant special attention:

Allan Gardens, located on 19 Horticultural Avenue, is one of the premier botanical garden sites in Toronto.  It was created in an act of philanthropy more than fifteen decades ago and ever since that time it has been a must see site within the City of Toronto.  During Doors Open Toronto, it will be open on both days from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon.

The City of Toronto Archives is a site that doesn’t get mentioned much in traditional tourism, mostly because access to the archives is restricted by the city’s governing council.  However, all of the information that you could ever want to know about Toronto’s rich cultural and historical tradition can be found inside the archives and for people that love to totally immerse themselves in a city both past and present, the accessibility to the archives during Doors Open Toronto is an opportunity that can’t be missed.  The archives will be open on Saturday from 10 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon and will be closed on Sunday.  It is located on 255 Spadina Road.

There’s no specific reason for me to mention these two out of the 150 that will be available aside from the fact that I haven’t covered either before on The Toronto Traveler.  The fact of the matter is that every single site on the list is an important one for understanding Toronto, so you can quite easily scan the list and pick out the buildings that interest you the most.

Photo Credit: Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The City of Toronto has a fantastic looking skyline that lends itself well to photography in almost any circumstance.  When the night is just right however, the glittering of downtown Toronto can be photographed reflecting off the water in order to create a truly wondrous sight like the one in the picture above. 

One of my favourite activities is to go to one of the many places in Toronto where the full skyline can be viewed and just sit and enjoy the view.  It’s a very relaxing thing to do and one that I recommend any traveler to the city make a point of doing at least once.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

The Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art galleries in the world and the current construction that is proceeding on the building will make it even bigger and better.  According to their website, when the construction is finished there will be over 110 galleries in the building.  While I’m not entirely sure how many were there before the construction started, I know from being there personally that it was nowhere near that amount.  The construction has been going on since October 7, 2007 and for the whole time that the construction has been proceeding, the gallery has been closed to visitors.  The latest update puts a rough date of opening in the fall of this year, but no firm date has been set.  For more information on this, check out the Art Gallery of Ontario Director’s Message.

Art Gallery of Ontario Location

The Art Gallery of Ontario is located at 317 Dundas Street West, which puts the gallery between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue on Dundas, right near Beverley Street and McCaul Street (MAP).  You can easily get to the Art Gallery of Ontario from Dundas Subway Station, which is located at the intersection of Dundas and University.  From that point it’s only about a three block walk west to get to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Art Gallery of Ontario Collection

One of the main reasons that the Art Gallery of Ontario is famous is the fact that it has one of the largest collections in the world.  Before the renovation started, there were roughly 70,000 pieces of art in the collection and they spanned the course of history from approximately the year 100 AD to the present moment in time.  In particular, the Art Gallery of Ontario has focused on promoting Canadian art to people both inside the country and those visiting.  This is why two out of every five pieces in the pre-renovation collection were from Canadian artists.  Canada has had many famous artistic talents such as the Group of Seven and Emily Carr.  There have also been rich artistic traditions amongst Inuit living in Canada and that tradition is displayed proudly within the walls of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Transformation AGO

Transformation AGO was a project that was envisioned by a new board of directors at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Their aim was to create a bigger and better version of the gallery that so many had come to love.  Indeed, looking at the construction over time shows that the physical building appears to be getting larger and that definitely bodes well for the insides which pre-renovation were stuffed full of artistic works.  The main goal of the transformation is to add new art, create new collections, add volume to the building and increase the overall exposure that artists can get through having exhibits at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  While construction has been long, it is also close to being over and the executives are promising that what you see when it re-opens will be more than worth the wait.

Photo Credits: Personal Collection

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

A well-placed ambulance means that text doesn’t even need to be added to this picture; you already know it’s Toronto from the markings on the back of the vehicle .  The picture is of course of The CN Tower, one of Toronto’s most popular tourist attractions.

Photo Credit: Personal Collection

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

One of the things I haven’t talked that much about on The Toronto Traveler is the outdoors in Toronto.  Most of the things I mention are either places you can visit or things you can do inside one of the many buildings located in the city, but I have yet to discuss something that you can do outside if you’re just looking for some time to kill or want to get some fresh air.  Well, there are many great places that you can walk in Toronto, but one that should definitely get first mention because of its close proximity to many of the main tourism areas in the city is Philosopher’s Walk.

Beautifully crafted thoroughfares like the one shown to the left are commomplace in Philosopher’s Walk, which is a walkway that starts on Bloor Street West between the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Royal Ontario Museum and continues southward to Hoskin Avenue.  The walk itself is only a few minutes long, but it gives you a chance to bask in a beautiful walkway and take the pulse of the city in a very real way.  It also gives you the chance to encounter a number of people.  University students, music performers, city residents that live nearby and tourists walk back and forth through Philosopher’s Walk all day and with the benches that are available for your use you can just sit there and watch them come and go.  It is a great place to reflect and a great place to relax.

One final point that is worth mentioning about Philosopher’s Walk is the fact that it allows you to branch off and visit many of the other nearby areas.  In addition to being able to visit the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Royal Ontario Museum, you can also go take a look at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Arena and field as well as tourisn some of the nearby campus buildings, most notably the very beautifully constructed Trinity College.

Philosopher’s Walk is also located walking distance from St. George, Bay and Museum Subway Stations; if you check out the subway line map and take a look at many of my past posts, you will notice that these three subway stations form part of the downtown core where most of the action takes place vis-a-vis tourist attractions in Toronto.  That is the main reason why Philosopher’s Walk is shorter than normal, but there are other places in Toronto where you can take a really long walk without stopping that I will talk about in later posts.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Toronto is a city with lots of fantastic artwork attached to it.  Sometimes, as in the case of the above photo, the artwork manifests itself on one of the walls of the city or some other such public place.  However, in most cases, to see great Canadian art you have to head to one of the many artistic venues in the city such as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, which from now on will also occupy a place on The Toronto Traveler’s blogroll.

The MOCCA as it’s known for short is exactly what the name implies and between May 2, 2008 and June 1, 2008, they are going to be having an exhibition of art entitled Between Memory and History: From the Epic to the Everday.  Here is a partial list of people that will have works on display at the event:

Raymonde April

Raymonde April is indicative of the large pool of French Canadian artistic talent that Canada is privileged to have.  She’s one of the contemporary photographic artists that Canada has built a reputation for turning out and ever since she got her start in 1979, her photographs have been in high demand for display around the country.

Robert Burley

Robert Burley, like Raymonde April, is a design photographer and one that has been working for over two decades.  According to his website, the work he does explores the relationship between nature, architectures and the overall urban landscape.  He has many excellent pictures that deal with the meat of this conceptual area, including very awe-inspiring pictures of large pockets of nature next to significantly smaller urban areas.

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a man that refers to himself as the “chronicler of our age.”  He is a man that has been highly critical of mainstream media photography and serves to counter that photography with what he refers to as “criticism, seduction and humour.”  This gives us a chance to take a look at his interpretation of many famous media shots over time and that in itself is a very interesting thing to do.

MOCCA’s Location

MOCCA is located at 952 Queen Street West, which puts it at a major intersection nearest to Queen Street West and Ossington Avenue.  This is actually somewhat far away from the Subway, although there are busses that run along Ossington Avenue from Ossington Subway Station on the Bloor-Danforth line as well as streetcars that run along Queen Street that intersect both the Yonge and University Subway Lines, so the TTC coverage to this particular location is still extensive.

Summary

Event: Between Memory and History: From the Epic to the Everday
Location: Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), 952 Queen Street West
Dates: May 2, 2008 to June 1, 2008
Museum Hours: 11 AM to 6 PM Thursday-Sunday, closed Monday
Admission: Free to the gallery
More Information: 416-395-7490 or mocca@toronto.ca

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Singles: For people that are single and traveling around the world, Toronto is a great city to visit.  In addition to all of the major tourist attractions that are available in the city, Toronto is also home to a very bustling entertainment district containing bars, nightclubs and various other forms of entertainment that tend to appeal to single people.

Married Couples: People that are married and traveling the world will love Toronto because it is home to many different world class landmarks.  Not only is it home to the CN Tower, but Casa Loma, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario are all considered world class aspects of the city and they are definitely things worth visiting.  There are also many great romantic destinations within the city that married couples could visit, including walkways, boat rides and restaurants with fantastic atmosphere.

Families: When reading through tourism guides for different cities as I did a few years ago, one thing I noticed time and time again was that a lot of cities are great for singles or couples, but not so hot when it comes to all around family entertainment.  Even if they did have such entertainment available, chances are the adults would probably feel like they were missing out on other things.  The great thing about Toronto however is that so many of the best attractions work just as well with families as they do with singles.  The CN Tower, SkyDome, Rogers Centre, Casa Loma, Royal Ontario Museum and many other major tourist attractions within the city are all family venues, allowing your family to have just as much fun in Toronto as you would by yourself.

Sports Lovers: Sports tourism is definitely an undertaking that I would like to try at some point.  That having been said, for the bunch of people that already do it, Toronto is definitely a place to visit.  Not only is it home to professional franchise in the highest leagues of soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey, but it is also home to dozens of minor sport teams, minor league teams in major sports and post secondary teams as well.  For a person that just generally loves sports and sporting events, Toronto is absolutely the place to be.

These are just four groups of people I came up with off the top of my head.  Feel free to suggest others and I’ll see what I can come up with as a starting point for them for a Toronto vacation!

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

While it wasn’t a very large amount (hence my substituting the picture above for an actual picture of the snowfall), snow did fall on thursday for the first time this year.

I was actually aware of a very minor amount of snowfall on wednesday when I was coming home from the university, but it wasn’t enough to actually make the ground look like any snow had fallen.  Thursday, on the other hand, was a completely different story!

Once we get the first truly impressive snowfall here for the year I’ll take a few pictures and post them for you to see, but for now I’ll leave you with this somewhat morbid statistic.  A doctor friend I was talking to the other day says that the day immediately after the first snowfall is the highest day for heart attacks in Toronto because of people shoveling their driveway for the first time.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Taiko Drumming is one of the most energetic artistic forms in the world.  The drummers not only need to have strong arms, but they need to have a high level of overall endurance in order to get through performances that number in the hours in terms of length while they are going at maximum in order to create the great beats that Taiko drums are known for.  We’ve got a club of Taiko drummers at the University of Toronto and every time I see those guys I just have to sit in awe of how they are able to keep their energy up throughout a performance that would be long even by the standards of a symphony orchestra where the musicians get to sit down and take it comparatively easy throughout the whole performance.

Well, in an artistic field that requires excellence, the Yamato Drummers of Japan are amongst the best of the best.  And they are performing at Roy Thompson Hall on November 24th, with ticket prices starting at $50.  The hall itself is well built, so you don’t have to invest in the more expensive tickets if you don’t want to.  The more expensive tickets can be as much as $70 and will admittedly give you a much better view of the drummers themselves as they go about their business.  Either way, the show starts at 8 PM and seating starts approximately one hour before that.

Roy Thompson Hall is probably the premier music venue in Toronto.  I’ve been there and I’ve actually performed there when I was in high school and it is certainly one of my favourite places to go whenever I can afford the prices.  The Hall itself is just a short walk from St. Andrew Subway Station; you walk west on King Street until you get to Simcoe Street and then head south until you get to the only building in the area that looks like the picture shown above!

This concert is definitely going to be an exciting one, so if you happen to be a fan of music then this concert should definitely be on your list of things to do in Toronto.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler